The Pontiac Township High School Board of Education approved a resolution to place a countywide sales tax increase on the April general election ballot.

Superintendent Jon Kilgore discussed the need for the tax with board members prior to passing the resolution.

The 1 percent increase on sales tax will apply to general merchandise only, with each district in the county receiving a share based on population of students residing in the county. These funds may only be used for school facilities or facilities-based initiatives.

Regardless of whether the county passes the tax, Kilgore said to the board that their building, which was built in the 1960s, would need some key issues addressed in the not-too-distant future. He pointed to leaks in the roof, the need to repair lighting fixtures in the school’s parking lot and to a 10-year school facilities safety check in which the school is assessed based on state code and they are then required to spend money in order to fix all the things which do not meet state mandates.

“We have a need for this in District 90 and we would make a list of those needs, “ Kilgore explained to the board. “Tough times are coming. We’ve heard it and down the road we are going to be doing what we can to save, but our class sizes are going to start going up, our maintenance guys are going to have to do more work as a result. We are not at a point where we’ve had to cut programs yet, but that could still be to come. I can tell you that things are not where they need to be in terms of where our revenues and expenditures are and we need to find ways to cut our expenses and find new revenues just to try and balance out here in the future.”

In Livingston County, other school districts have already passed a resolution for the tax to be put up for ballot. For that reason, Kilgore said it was not necessary for the board to pass a resolution. However, he explained that from a symbolic standpoint, to show the voters in Livingston County that PTHS and LACC need the income this facilities tax would provide, he believed it would be necessary for them to approve a resolution as well.

Districts representing a simple majority of students within Livingston County passing the resolution would put in on the ballot for the county.

Board member Dale Schrock asked Kilgore to expand upon the rationale behind voting right now when the tax was already drawn up for the ballot.

“We have an obligation to some district community members to give them some indication as to what we would do, what our wish list would be if this passed,” said Schrock. “I just question whether it’s necessary for us to be looking ahead to that and not looking back to what is already going to happen anyway.”

Page 2 of 4 - Kilgore responded, “… If we have a need and we’re going to benefit from the taxes, I think it’s important that we make a decision on where it is we stand as a board. So it’s not necessary, but in my opinion I recommend that we do for symbolic nature to our voters that we feel this is an important issue. It’s a need for District #90 and we want to put it on the ballot so that you as voters can express yourselves through a vote and let us know if you feel it’s important, too.”

The sales tax rate in Livingston County and Pontiac is currently at 6.25 percent. That amount would go up by 1 percent to 7.25 percent if the County Schools Facilities Sales Tax passes. Kilgore said compared to other locations around the area, most of them are already above that right now. Even if the sales tax rate were to go up to 7.25 percent, Kilgore said Livingston County would still be at the lowest sales tax percentage in the area. People are still going to pay more on sales tax in a city like Bloomington-Normal than they would in Livingston County if this 1 percent increase passes.

“So, why not buy local and help the school district pay off debt, get out of debt and get the property taxes down by paying off the life-safety bonds and not extending them,” said Kilgore. “And we also put to work local contractors to do our repairs and hopefully that money would stay in the county. We look at this sales tax as a way to take advantage of the 35 to 40 percent of people who come to Pontiac from outside the county and buy a meal or get gas. We could benefit from people outside the county and take the burden off of our local people.”

Kilgore said the amount of money that would be gained by each district annually is about $450 per student that lives in Livingston County, or about $350,000 for District #90 which could only be used on that could only be used toward facilities.

“It comes from sales tax, as is said in the name and can also only be used towards facilities, as is said in the name,” said Kilgore. “I also don’t believe it could ever go higher than 1 percent.”

“I think it was important for our board to make a decision,” Kilgore added. “To symbolically demonstrate to the community that we do have a need and the voters will have an opportunity to express themselves as to whether or not they believe there is a real need to address our schools and keep our schools in good shape.”

Page 3 of 4 - In another matter, the board also heard a report on the fiscal year 2012 audit.

Only two issues came up during the report of the results of the audit, which was presented by auditor Rick Phillips of Phillips and Associates. Phillips said these two issues are ones that the board has seen for quite a few years and while they are not to be taken lightly, Phillips said there isn’t much more the board could be doing to correct them.

The first issue had to do with a change of professional standards that took place around 2009, in which it was decided that it was impractical to have an auditor participate in the preparation and also audit of statements. Each year, Phillips said the state softens the rule up a little bit, but they still haven’t removed it completely. Phillips and Associates participate in the preparation as well as the audit of District #90’s documents, however he said short of the district hiring someone whom is knowledgeable in the constant changes of Certified Public Accountant code — an idea which Phillips said he doesn’t recommend —this will always be an issue for PTHS as well as 99 percent of the other schools whom Phillips audits around the states of Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.

“We would have to go out and hire extra people that we can’t afford in order to completely identify every possible area,” said Kilgore after the meeting. “So we will continue to do everything we can with the personnel that we can provide in order to get the job done.”

The other issue, a separation of duties, is something that Phillips said the board has been constantly trying to address over the past few years. Phillips said in small organizations such as the school district in Pontiac, there simply aren’t enough personnel to completely eliminate circumstances where the person who has control of assets has control of records simultaneously.

Two years ago, Phillips said former Superintendent Leo Johnson sat down with all of the PTHS staff to work through their system of checks and balances to try and get this issue off of their findings, however Phillips said what they found, was that different control issues came in to play. Phillips commended the board on the good changes they are continuing to make each year in order to have even more separations of duties.

“This last year, using Skyward you separated even more of those duties between the different staff people and you have a lot of new things that have dealt with that,” said Phillips. “You have also added to more control and more accountability and I understand you are interested in looking again to see if you can still increase the separation of controls.”

Page 4 of 4 - Kilgore responded after the meeting saying, “We continue to find ways to create separation of duties with personnel that we have for our small school district. We continue to take steps, for example, of separating our budgets. This year Livingston Area Career Center and PTHS made a positive step by separating our budgets and it’s nice to be recognized for it.”